• NG = New Game
• NM = No Merchant
• NG+ = New Game+
• SW = Separate Ways
• SW+ = Separate Ways+
• AA = Assignment Ada
• IGT = In Game Time/Timer
• RTA = Real Time Attack
• WR = World Record
• SS = Single Segment
• Seg = Segmented

The following rules apply to every single category in the board. Your run must comply with all of these rules no matter which category you're submitting for.

• All runs are ranked by IGT, which is the time shown by the results screen and typewriter after the game is completed, with the exception of AA which is ranked by RTA instead. It's not required to show LiveSplit or any other timer for AA, as mods will retime the run either way.
• In order for your run to be considered SS it must be done in one sitting with no exiting to the main menu and not making any saves.
• In order for your run to be considered Seg it must be done in segments, meaning one chapter at a time and/or saving, quitting and replaying said chapter until it is "perfect" over an extended period of time until you beat the game.
• All videos submitted must:

1. Have sound.
2. Have no significant partial interruptions (such as sound cutting out constantly, black screens, freezes, etc)
3. Have a decent enough quality to be watchable, although instances of low bitrate and framedrops are acceptable to a reasonable degree. You can local record your runs in order to prevent internet issues.
4. Not expire automatically after a certain amount of time (for example Twitch past broadcasts).

• All runs must be made on official releases, emulators and Softmodding (that result in significantly faster loadings) are not allowed with the only exception being that of the GameCube USB version, since it has its own category.
• Turbo controllers and macro inputs are banned.

In addition to the global rules, your run must also comply with the rules of whichever specific category you're submitting for.

• Special 2 costume is banned.
• Special 1 costume is banned on Gamecube NTSC.
• WR runs require full video, starting at the main menu and ending after making your one and only save at the final typewriter after the results screen.
• Non-WR runs only require a video of the making of the save after the results screen. This video must be made DURING the making of the save , not after it's already been made. You can use your phone or similar to record this.
• The information on the save should be clearly visible on screen before the video ends or you quit out to the main menu.
• Segmented runs require a full video of all segments done in order. A playlist with all the individual videos of these segments is also accepted although not preferred. You can save as many times as you want, and all videos must include the making of the save following the rule above.

• WR runs require full video, starting at the load menu (typewriter) and ending after making your one and only save at the final typewriter after the results screen.
• Non-WR runs only require a video of the making of the save after the results screen. This video must be made DURING the making of the save , not after it's already been made. You can use your phone or similar to record this.
• The information on the save should be clearly visible on screen before the video ends or you quit out to the main menu.
• Segmented runs require a full video of all segments done in order. A playlist with all the individual videos of these segments is also accepted although not preferred. You can save as many times as you want, and all videos must include the making of the save following the rule above.

• Special 2 costume is banned.
• Special 1 costume is banned on Gamecube NTSC.
• Interacting with the merchant is banned.
• All runs require full video, starting at the main menu and ending after making your one and only save at the final typewriter after the results screen.
• The information on the save should be clearly visible on screen before the video ends or you quit out to the main menu.
• Segmented runs require a full video of all segments done in order. A playlist with all the individual videos of these segments is also accepted although not preferred. You can save as many times as you want, and all videos must include the making of the save following the rule above.

• WR runs require full video, starting at the SW main menu and ending after making your one and only save at the final typewriter after the results screen.
• Non-WR runs only require a video of the making of the save after the results screen. This video must be made DURING the making of the save , not after it's already been made. You can use your phone or similar to record this.
• The information on the save should be clearly visible on screen before the video ends or you quit out to the main menu.
• Segmented runs require a full video of all segments done in order. A playlist with all the individual videos of these segments is also accepted although not preferred. You can save as many times as you want, and all videos must include the making of the save following the rule above.

• All runs require full video, starting at the AA main menu and ending AFTER calling the helicopter.
• Timing starts on the first frame that the initial text disappears and ends on the first frame that the "yes no" prompt disappears after activating it.

These following actions, although obvious, can and will result in bans as they represent a major offense to our community:

• Submitting spliced runs.
• Using cheats of any sort.
• Submitting other people's runs as your own.
• Toxic and/or inappropriate behavior towards mods or other players, being direct or not.
• Any other type of deliberated offense not mentioned above.

• March 1st, 2021: Added the rule that requires all non-WR runs to show physical video proof making the save, whereas before pictures/screenshots of the final save after it was made were acceptable.
• August 22nd, 2021: Added the rule that requires all WR runs to show full video proof of the run with sound, not only the making of the save.
• January 2nd, 2023: Added a rule that sets time limits for all categories, where times below this limit will no longer be accepted, and all current runs below this limit will be deleted.
• January 2nd, 2023: Re-worded and formatted all previous rules properly for better readability.
• January 4th, 2023: Removed the rule that sets time limits for all categories and restored all runs this rule caused to reject.

You can leave any questions you may have regarding the rules down below. Try not to go off-topic or start new unnecessary threads. Also make sure you join the discord as it is full of useful resources and active mods.

Are these leaderboards backed up before runner history is wiped?

How do you have the heart to tell someone who is learning and putting effort into the game that they are not good enough?

Why should anyone submit to such a leaderboard which is subject to future erasure?

It's bull crap that y'all would make a ridiculous decision on removing multiple runs that y'all "deem to slow". My console runs were on the leaderboards for a few years now and y'all just suddenly remove them. Also not everyone has the skills to get super fast times. What are y'all gonna do when the "accepted" runs fall back so far in the ranking? Are y'all just gonna straight up remove their runs because they're "too slow" now? Sounds to me like it's just favoritism for the faster runners. You guys are not being fair and this ridiculous

Sorry guys. It's your game to moderate but I think this was a bad change. My console run from 2014 was just rejected. I put a lot of effort into that run. It obviously doesn't compare with other runs but I was okay with that. It was doing no harm on the leaderboard.

A speedrun is a game played as quickly as possible. There's no suggestion of 'quality'. I played my run to the best of my ability. It is therefore my spedrun of the game.

Having only better times applicable for the leaderboard is just going to kill the interest of new comers and ruin that sense of progression for those who really do want to learn the game properly.

There are so many meaningful and better alternatives to this. Sonic Adventure 2 has a time threshold, in which times lower than that do not require video nor fully vetted verification. Donkey Kong Country has a leaderboard that does not require runs to be verified at all in order to be submitted, where the community's interest in verifying the legitimacy of runs is a responsibility headed by the entire community, with a strong collective incentive to simply point out suspicious or obviously cheated runs for a larger discussion on the matter, otherwise the whole integrity of the board is compromised.

This may only be two examples, but these are both very large communities with tons of runs, runners, and time discrepancies. I'm sure you can find more if you look hard enough. A leaderboard does not benefit from gatekeeping to this extent, and othering those who want to enjoy speedrunning this is speedgame self sabotage, which is a bit weak considering the reasoning behind it is "verifying all runs takes too long". This is a hobby. I'm begging you to reconsider.

Edit: I just realized your mod team has 5 people on it, 0 of which are verifiers. Please consider adding verifiers instead of removing runs as well, especially considering that if this is as popular of a game as you claim, finding people willing to verify that New_Runner_442's 4h any% time is legitimate, if told what to look for, shouldn't be all that difficult. But if you care more about leaderboard aesthetics than integrity, I don't see this being a good solution for you either, since I doubt you'd find a large pool of verifiers very aesthetically pleasing.

The idea of gatekeeping runners like this in any game is a terrible idea that should not be done ever. Speedrunning should be a welcome experience for everyone, not a select few. This decision will only prevent community growth, and may cause people that maybe interested in learning at their pace have second thoughts. I hope you seriously think about this decision and hopefully you change your mind on this. But this will only make this community worse if you do this.

I would encourage the mods to read the site's Moderation Rules, which have been in place for years, even before the sale to the current owners.

https://www.speedrun.com/knowledgebase/moderation-rules

"A minimum effort requirement is reasonable. It is recommended to at a minimum accept a first playthrough done in one sitting with an intention of playing the category quickly. Runs that are clearly not making an effort to beat the game's category quickly may be rejected."

While this is a recommendation, it still stands to show that a time requirement is not a common practice on the site. This will discourage runners from continuing to improve to the point that they're allowed to submit their run.

Even without being codified in the rules, this happened to the Zelda 2 community for several years. The community was almost entirely made up of experienced runners, and no new runners would submit runs because nobody wanted to be in last place. Some would continue doing runs until they were finally "good enough", but many got discouraged and simply stopped running the game.

Along comes prolific multi-game runner GreenBomber, who does a handful of runs, submits his 4.5 hour 100% run to all categories it was eligible for, including the usually heavily-glitched Any% category with a WR of about 18 minutes at the time. Suddenly new runners start posting their times cause they'll no longer be last place, and the community finally starts growing.

SRC now has the Verifier role available, I would encourage the mods to add Verifiers from the community if they need to lessen the workload per person, rather than limiting submissions.

Wow... This is disgusting Elitist behaviour. Who are you to decide what level of effort someone is putting into a run, and more importantly, why does it even matter? Speedrunning is a hobby that should be accessible to all. Everybody starts somewhere, and that somewhere probably isn't within a 30% threshold of WR, but does that mean they don't deserve to document their run the same as everyone else? No matter how you try to justify this decision just know that from any single person looking in on this from the outside all this looks like is a team of lazy moderators who decided they weren't going to "waste their time" even acknowledging people if their runs aren't close enough to WR to be considered worthy. Essentially saying "get lost kiddo. We don't want your slow ass around here making the rest of us look bad" But what you fail to see is the only thing that makes your leaderboards ugly is this ruleset.

Mod's "not having enough time" to verify runs is a cop out and I will not accept it. Sure it's a volunteer job that people do for the love of a game/community and nobody can be expected to do mod duties at any particular time, but that being said if you no longer are interested in verifying runs maybe you shouldn't moderate anymore. Pass the torch on to someone with more time and motivation to verify runs. Shouldn't be that hard to find someone either since "your community is so large"

Also I don't even understand what yall are worried about when it comes to slow runs being verified. it's not like there is a time limit for verification. Do it at your leisure. Slower runs will take longer to be verified but oh well. I'm sure people would be understanding of that. Or like I've seen others mention, don't even bother actually verifying runs that are that slow. Genuinely who cares if someone lied about being 75th place on the leaderboards. That doesn't diminish the accomplishments of those at the top of the leaderboards.

Having lower times on the board encourages new runners to submit / stick around. It's discouraging to pick up a game and see that you aren't even on the leaderboards with your time. And to also have the leaderboards not even be a true representative of the average persons experience progressing their speedruns is demoralizing. You think wow am I the worst person to ever try speedrunning this? But then it turns out nope, there were others like you that finished with similar times but their runs were removed for being too slow.

Saying that "if you put effort into your run and follow proper strats and routing you won't ever have an issue with this rule" is just not true. You don't get to dictate what people's starting skill level is, you don't get to dictate how they choose to learn the routes, you don't even get to dictate if they choose to learn the routes. Take a step back for a second and imagine someone wants to speedrun this and has literally never played a RE game before. Do you really think they would have "no issue" achieving a fast enough time? Speedrunners tend to forget after their hundreds or thousands of hours in a game that not every person has the innate knowledge and understanding of the game that they do and something that may be very simple and straight forward to them will be confusing and difficult to a new player who doesn't understand the nuances of a given game yet.

Speedrunning is a hobby for many people, some just do it for fun and never intend to be a top level player, but maybe still want to be able to look at the various runs they've done across various game all in one convenient place (SRC) . And others are more engaged in the competitive aspect, reaching for top spots on the leaderboards and constantly seeking to improve. Both are valid and both deserve a space here. It is very authoritarian of you to decide who does and who doesn't get to participate in your community based on whether you deem them skilled enough or not.

This decision might be one of the worst decisions ever made by a mod team on SRC. RE4 will be the absolute laughing stock of speedrunning communities everywhere if this decision is not modified or reversed. I know you think you will be more respected if all your leaderboard times are competitive but i promise you it isn't that deep. Not a single person in the real world cares about how fast you play a video game

Many great points have already been made as to why the new time requirement is unacceptable, and I want to add to these by specifically pointing out a couple flaws with the "reduces moderation work" argument:

1. If the game is really that popular, it shouldn't be difficult to find more verifiers capable of helping keep up with the workload.

2. This rule only saves significant time if moderators watch the entirety of every run, which is not necessary. I understand checking that time is started and ended correctly, as well as checking key points in the run, but slower runs do not need the same level of scrutiny as top runs. Nobody is going to cheat a slower time, and therefore, your new rule only punishes legitimate runners (regardless of whether you consider them "casual" or not).

Bro imagine telling an artist they're not allowed to post their drawings on twitter cuz it's not high enough quality. Actual gatekeeping nonsense.

lol so "encouraging people to get better and competitive" with rejecting them of the leaderboard im not sure people actualy cares that much about this specific leaderboard to want to be less casuals just in order to submit, this is pretty much just going to create a lack of activity in the leaderboard because people wont submit

a pretty materialist view to want to do something just to have your name written in a leaderboard

O had my WR for Xbox series S category stripped from me, whta a sad day for the console community/ and the community as a whole.

I'm confused as to why my run was taken off the leaderboard for single segment any% PS5. Reading this recent ruling I can only think my time was below the threshold (it was a 1:57:55) but the google doc tell me nothing. Was my time the most competitive ever? No. But it's only a minute behind the current 3rd place and I'm still grinding to do better when I have the time.

The only other reason I can think of for my run getting taken off is that I save the dog at the beginning and take a small time loss (I just don't like to hear it whine and that's my choice to take the time loss). And I also take a safer "grandma" strat for the water hall section. Does this make my run a "casual" run? I'd argue it doesn't because I clearly use speedrunning strats across the entire game.

Lastly, maybe I thought my twitch VOD was gone. But it isn't, it's right here:

I don't agree with this ruling at all. It just makes it seem like less skilled players aren't allowed to have their name on the leaderboard. But I just want to know why my run was taken off because as far as I can tell I didn't infringe on any of these new rules.

My run has been reverified and it looks like other peoples have as well? I think it was really good of you to listen to people and to change your decision. Thank you

yea they didnt want to revert change. they were forced to by admins.

ah

The rule has been removed and all rejected runs have been re-verified. On top of that, offtopic, clearly rude and/or jokey replies on this post have been deleted. This post will remain locked for a while until things calm down.

Any new threads further discussing this will be deleted, enough has been said and a conclusion was reached.